The National League of Women Voters
often published pamphlets that covered the basic elements and rationale for
the League's position on different issues. This "Brief for Action" addressed
the need for a national policy on the status of women in the United States.In
conjunction with House Resolution 2007 Doc. 8, this pamphlet explained what
the passage of a "bill on the status of women" would achieve. The League saw
HR 2007 as a desirable alternative to the proposed Equal Rights Amendment
(ERA) and believed a presidential commission would clarify legal definitions
of "sexual equality." In addition, the League supported HR 2007
as aneffective way of addressing sex discrimination at the state level.

Brieffor Action

League of Women Voters
726 Jackson Place, Washington 6, D.C.

Publication No.
91
April 1, 1947
Price 5¢

THE STATUS
OF WOMEN
Need for a National Policy

What place should women occupy
in our nation? Almost a century ago at Seneca Falls, New York, a small but
determined group of women held a Woman's Rights Convention which proved to
be the beginning of a great social movement. Lucretia Mott, a quiet-spoken
Quakeress with a penetrating intelligence, her sister, Martha C. Wright, Elizabeth
Cady Stanton, and Mary Ann McClintock called the Convention and presented,
in a manner of the Declaration of Independence, a "Declaration of Sentiments."

The Seneca Falls Convention outlined
the objectives these women and those leaders who followed them wished to achieve.
Lucy Stone, Susan B. Anthony, Anna Howard Shaw, and Carrie Chapman Catt were
spokesmen for women who wanted an opportunity equal to that of men in education,
religion, professions. They wanted laws permitting them to manage their own
business affairs.They wanted equal guardianship over their children. They
wanted to be citizens on an equal footing with men.

The achievements of women in the
hundred years of American history since 1848 have been great. Partly, women
have improved their position through gaining improvements in laws and through
gaining and exercising citizenship. Partly, they have gained new opportunity
and stature as persons through a gradual increase of enlightenment.

Women
in the United States today occupy a high place. Legally and politically
they have gained most of the important privileges and responsibilities men
possess.They are making progress point by point against remaining discriminations.
Sixteen states still do not permit women to serve on juries.A few states
deny to women the right of domicile if that state is not the legal residence
of her husband. Some states deny to women the guardianship of their children.
In a few states husbands exercise certain controls over their wives' earnings.
Such readily recognized remnants of discrimination need to be removed.

Socially
and economically women have still a long way to go to equal man's
position. On the whole boys receive more education, and are accorded more
vocational concern. Men still receive higher pay for similar work. The family's
place of residence, and in large part the character of family living are
determined by the father's objectives. It is not easy to change these social
and economic habits by laws.

In a few respects women enjoy a
position superior to that of men. Widows' pensions, alimony following divorce,
and various laws protecting a wife's property are examples of legal assets
to women. That women are still to some extent provided for and protected by
men is a social and economic fact which most women admit, although some women
disagree as to its desirability.

Most thoughtful people today believe
that individuals, both men and women should be valued for their total personality,
of which sex is only one, albeit an important part.

WHAT IS "EQUAL"?

In the early years
of the movement for women's rights discriminations were so obvious that the
demand for "equal rights" which had been voiced at Seneca Falls was readily
understood. Women wanted an opportunity for education, for choice of work,
for the management of their own affairs.Gradually the problem became complicated
by the interpretation of the word "equal. Since men and women are not identical
(not "fungible" as the Supreme Court has said) the question arose: "What is
equal?" How can men and women, in some respects similar, in some respects
dissimilar be treated equally? To treat them identically is not necessarily
to treat them equally.

The problem could only be solved
by treating men and women alike in whatever respects they were alike and by
allowing for differences where they differed.The Nineteenth Amendment providing
for national suffrage established one great fact. Women had the intelligence
and the competence to be full citizens. Their concern was as great and their
consent as important in a democracy as that of the men. But suffrage did not
mean that laws should not allow for differences between men and women. Laws
favoring women as members of a family have always been held justified by society
as a whole. The husband is, for example, primarily responsible for family
support.Such laws are logical as long as the role of wife and mother in our
society interrupts or impedes the woman's opportunity to develop or maintain
her own earning power. In physical structure, in biological and social functions,
women differ from men. Society has always considered these differences in
the making of laws and its application, and must continue to do so.

SPECIAL LABOR LAWS FOR WOMEN

When
women began to assume responsibilities in the business and industrial world
they did not have the same bargaining power as men. As a result they have
often worked for low wages, which by undercutting men's wages tended to
lower the wage scale for everyone. Because of their lack of power to bargain
they were forced to work under conditions which tended to undermine their
health and to lower their contribution to society in general. To remedy
the situation it seemed wise to pass special labor laws establishing maximum
hours of work, minimum wages, and healthful conditions of work for women.
Most states have such laws. Because women in our society have a role of
great importance as mothers and homemakers these "protective laws" for women
are in the general welfare. They are important to all of us.

NEW SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE

What are some of the factors which
have led the League of Women Voters and other organizations to believe that
a re-thinking of the status of women would be valuable at this time? The studies
by scientists of the growth and development of the human being have progressed
rapidly in the last few decades. From such study have come more dependable
measurements of the differences between men and women. For example, the scientists
now confirm the common sense knowledge that the human male reaches maturity
several years later than the human female. Such scientific findings provide
a basis for re-evaluating our laws about age of marriage. There are also new
findings by psychologists and sociologists which should be considered. The
importance of the family and the role of mother-homemaker are significant
factors about which our social scientists have impressive data and which should
be taken into account as we consider legislation.

U.N. CHARTER

The Charter of the United Nations,
which our nation signed, declares it to be among its purposes to promote and
encourage respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all "without
distinctions as to sex." It is, therefore, our duty to bring our laws and
their administration into harmony with these principles. It is appropriate
at this time to establish a national policy in keeping with the great aims
of the U.N. Charter and to review our laws and practices, both in our federal
government and in the states.

There are not thought to be important
discriminations against women in federal laws, although there are some minor
ones. For example, women cannot serve on federal juries in states where state
laws does not permit women to serve as jurors. While the letter of the federal
law does not seem to discriminate, certain practices which produce actual
discriminations need to be reviewed.

Because the problem of discrimination
against women has long been a thorny one, because of widespread current interest
in the role of women in our society, and because of our commitment to the
U.N. it is a fitting time to review the question of the status of women in
the United States.

BILL ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN

The
proposed Bill on The Status of Women which the League of Women Voters
is supporting with some forty other women's organizations would do four
things.

(1)
Declare a Policy. It
would declare it to be a policy of the U.S. that in law and its administration
no distinctions on the basis of sex shall be made except such as are reasonably
justified by difference in physical structure, biological, or social function.

(2) Require Immediate Conformity
with the Policy. So far as permitted by existing legislation, the bill
would require all federal agencies to review their current practices and conform
them to the new policy.

(3)
Establish a Commission on the Status of Women. It would provide a
Presidentially appointed commission of nine members to: (a) study and review
the economic, civil, political, and social status of women and the extent
of discriminations based on sex, (b) recommend legislation necessary to
bring the laws and government practices of the U.S. into conformity with
the declared policy. The findings of such a Commission could become a great
landmark in the history of the United States. Its work would have great
effect upon the work of the U.N. Commission
on Women and hence upon the progress of women throughout the world.

The
Commission would dig into the facts. It would define distinctions based
on differences in sex before defining discrimination based on sex.
It would trace the development of sex discrimination. (The wording of the
bill allows for studying discrimination against men too!) It would describe
accurately the kinds and amounts of discrimination existing in the U.S. today.
The new bill proposes to point up the facts in the same way as the President's
Committee on Economic Security did before the Social Security Act was written
or as the White House Conference on Child Welfare did before child welfare
legislation was framed.

Such a Commission would need funds
adequate to provide a staff. It would be created immediately upon passage
of the bill and would report to the President by March 1, 1948. The President
would, within 30 days after its receipt, transmit the Commission's Report,
together with his recommendations to the Congress.

(4)
Urge the States to Declare a Policy. A good federal example would be
set by the bill. Therefore, it is fitting that it should urge the states to
declare a similar policy, to review their laws and practices and bring them
into conformity with the policy. Laws concerning marriage and family and pertaining
to property (in which most discriminations reside) are largely state laws.
The same organizations which are working for the passage of the federal bill
on the Status of Women will work for improved state laws.

LEGISLATIVE FACTS

The
Bill on The Status of Women was introduced in both houses of Congress
on February 17, 1946. Mr. Wadsworth of New York took the initiative in the
House, his bill is H.R. 2007. Other sponsors included Representative Kefauver
of Tennessee, Lewis of Ohio, Rogers of Massachusetts, Douglas of California,
and Norton of New Jersey. Senator Taft introduced the bill in the Senate
where it is S.J. Res. 67.

WHY NOT AN EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT?

For
many years some women have urged the passage of a Constitutional amendment
saying that men and women in the United States should have equal rights. The
problem is not as simple as that. Saying that men and women shall be equal
will not make them equal. The words "equal rights" are impressive, but no
one can possibly know what they would mean in a Constitutional amendment.
Only a long series of legal cases could begin to arrive at some more precise
definitions of the term. We have on our law books now hundreds of laws affecting
women.They are specific laws about specific problems. As has been said by
Paul Freund, professor of law at Harvard University, "The basic fallacy
in the proposed amendment is that it attempts to deal with complicated and
highly concrete problems arising out of a diversity of human relationships
in terms of a single and simple abstraction."

The organizations supporting the
bill on the status of women believe that the whole problem of discrimination
needs to be reviewed and positive and specific legislative action needs to
be taken point by point. Those supporting the "Equal Rights" Amendment want
a Constitutional declaration of a sweeping principle. Hundreds of current
laws would be thrown into question. It would open up a period of extreme confusion
in constitutional law. Even if the amendment should be passed and ratified,
specific legislation would be needed to put it into effect. In the process
there would be great danger that the federal government would step into additional
fields which have always been the responsibility of the states.

WHY A BILL ON THE STATUS OF
WOMEN

In
contrast to the amendment procedure the new bill on the status of women offers
clear, positive, and quick action. It immediately declares a national policy
against discriminations. The Commission it creates will study the question
in the light of all available information. Its findings will constitute the
first official and complete body of facts ever assembled on the problem. Its
recommendations based upon these facts will carry great weight with the President,
Congress, and the respective states. In short, it provides a reasonable method
for accomplishing an end which all enlightened citizens desire. Your senators
and your representatives would like to know what you think about H.R. 2007,
A Bill on the Status of Women. Watch TRENDS for legislative developments.
League support for this measure is authorized by the Platform item.